Robin Hood of Cats
by KatLeePT
Summary: Let the world have their heroes. The true innocents have Catwoman. PG/K .


She listens only idly to the news rattling over her radio as she pulls into work. She doesn't need to hear the reporters to know what is thought of her. Batman's words from last night burn already in her ears. They think she is nothing more than a common, greedy thief, but she knows the truth.

She pulls into her regular space and checks her makeup. No one would ever guess that the demure blond looking back at her in the mirror is, in truth, the world's best cat burglar that slinks and prowls across the rooftops of Gotham City's richest citizens every night. No one would stop to think this woman was even a thief. She was only another cat-loving, crazy woman with tons of cats at home and a life dedicated to the local shelter.

There is nothing sensual about Selina's pace as she approaches the shelter. She has trained herself well to keep this identity from giving away any clues as to what, and who, she really is. No one will look at her twice in this simple business suit that hides most of her curves. Gotham raged about Catwoman, but no one in the world took the time to truly know Selina Kyle, no one but the cats who meet her at the door here at the shelter and meow from further within, calling out to her, and those who awaited her at her home.

She strokes several heads and lifts one of the smaller felines who gets some of the least attention of those who roam freely through the shelter's hallways. She carries her into her office, petting her thin fur and enjoying the rattling sound of purr, just in time to hear one of the new boys speaking with excitement.

"I'm telling ya," the teenager cried enthusiastically, "it was Catwoman!"

"Oh, come on, Tim. Just because it was some babe in a costume."

"She left money for us, Gene." Tim dropped a heavy bag onto the desk. "I counted it. It's real. It's enough to keep the shelter going for the next ten years at least. She only had one request."

Every one in the tiny office eyed that bag of money as Tim said, "She told me we should go no kill."

"We've always wanted to," one of the other women said.

"But it's stolen money. We can't accept it!"

"We'd be accomplices!"

"The cops'd get us for good!"

"But think about all we can do with these funds!"

"And what are we going to tell the fuzz when they come knocking on our door because we've been using stolen money?"

"Why would they track it to us?"

"Those bills have numbers on them. They probably know exactly which ones are stolen."

"If they'd been taken from a bank, yeah, but you heard the news. She didn't hit any banks last night. The money was stolen, yeah, but it was stolen from people who can afford to give but won't."

"She's like a real life Robin Hood!"

"Steal from the rich and give to the cats!"

"No one's poorer than these babies."

"Meow."

"What do you think, Selina?"

Selina stopped stroking the tabby's head as every one turned to her. "I think," she said carefully, "that the cops can't track the money. She wouldn't have left it for us if they could, and we'd better use it and do as she says. I don't want to make Catwoman mad, do you?"

A quick, general consensus rattled through the office. No one wanted to anger the thief, even if she was on their side. The manager quickly decided that she and her unofficial second-in-command would take careful care of the money. They would start by buying food, litter, and other supplies from the local big chains, and then, in a few weeks' time when the news of Catwoman's burglaries had died down, they would officially transform the shelter into a no-kill sanctuary.

The younger staff members scattered to do what they did in the mornings, but the teenager who worked on the shelter's website remained in the office with Selina as she slunk down into one of the chairs. He laughed as she was immediately covered with cats. "You're a real cat woman, aren't you?"

"Of course, Dillan," she said, stroking a few, arching backs at once. "Why else would I be here?"

He smiled. "Why else would any of us be here, Miss Kyle? We're here for the animals." He started to turn back to his computer screen.

He didn't see her smile grow or the satisfied gleam that lit her emerald eyes. He had no idea how close his words had come to the truth for which the entire city's government was scrambling, but Selina did. She scratched and stroked the cats who came for her, taking time to clean their eyes, check their bodies for any signs of injuries, and make each one feel special.

Let the world have its heroes. Let them lift up Batman and Superman onto pedestals and think she was only a petty, greedy thief. The true innocents, those who could not lift a paw or a tail to help themselves, the cats of the world knew the truth. She was their Robin Hood, their hero, and she would help them until the night she died.

The End


End file.
